The Tabula Peutingeriana is a fascinating artefact. A map of the world as known to the ancients (i.e. Europe, Africa and Asia) compressed onto a parchment roll 6.94 metres in length (east to west) but only 0.33 metres in height (north to south). According to the majority view among scholars, the TP as we now have it was copied from a late Roman original at some time around the year 1200. At one time, the scroll was in the possession of a wealthy Augsburg notable, Konrad Peutinger (1465–1547) before eventually ending up in the Austrian State Library as Codex Vindobonensis 326.
The publication in 2016 of a new facsimile edition with commentary by R. to replace the outdated editions of K. Miller (1916, reprinted 1962) and E. Weber (1976) was warmly welcomed by historians of cartography and of the later Roman Empire. The review in the present journal (CR 67 [2017], 534–6) was also laudatory, but highlighted two problems: the high price (€250) and the lack of a comprehensive index. Happily, in the new fourth edition, both issues have been addressed.
Other changes have also taken place. The format is slightly smaller (30 x 32 cm) than that of the original edition (34 x 36 cm), and the subtitle has been modified from Die einzige Weltkarte aus der Antike to Die bedeutendste Weltkarte der Antike.
The technical quality of the colour reproductions remains high, and the slightly reduced size of the text does not affect its legibility. The introduction has been complemented by additional footnote references to recent scholarship and a brief section (pp. 34–5) on the potential contribution of hyperspectral photography and the Moretus edition of the Tabula by Marcus Welser (1598).
The most important addition is the index (pp. 112–25) of all ancient toponyms on the Tabula, with grid references enabling readers to locate them easily. Names are given as spelled on the Tabula (e.g. Duroaverus for Durovernum, Cortina for Gortyna, Yconio for Iconium). The index of ancient and modern placenames (‘Antike und moderne Orte’, pp. 126–7) is limited, as in the original edition, to the selection of places highlighted in the facsimile section or mentioned in the text. Modern placenames are generally spelled as in German albeit with a few inconsistencies, for example, Genova (not Genua) as against Padua (not Padova). Straßburg is German, Strasbourg is French, but Straßbourg is neither one nor the other. Such details do not, however, detract from the value of the fourth edition as a valuable research tool and the natural point of departure for future explorers venturing into the fascinating landscape of the Tabula Peutingeriana.
